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Mugabe's spokesman 'lied to Supreme Court'

New Zimbabwe

By
Lebo NkatazoLast updated: 11/09/2007 11:24:21PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's
press secretary George Charamba lied under oath regarding the crafting of
the country's broadcasting laws, a former minister told the Supreme Court on
Wednesday.In a sworn affidavit opposing an application by Manala Private
Limited which is challenging the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation's monopoly of the airwaves, Charamba charged that Harare lawyer
Terrence Hussein should be barred from representing the applicants in the
matter.

Mugabe's spokesman claimed Hussein was breaching
client-attorney privilege as he was involved in the formulation and drafting
of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).

Manala's constitutional
challenge was postponed indefinitely after Charamba, who was not one of the
respondents, requested to be made a party in the matter.

Charamba
claimed in his affidavit that Hussein had helped craft the BSA and should,
therefore, recuse himself from the constitutional case.

"It is surprising
that Hussein, for reasons best known to him(self), has decided to exploit
the information given to him in confidence and such a thing should not be
allowed as it gives rise to a conflict of interest of a serious nature,"
said Charamba.

Charamba further claimed: "He (Hussein) shared his legal
expertise with the then Honourable Minister of Information and Publicity,
Professor Jonathan Moyo, and myself in a series of meetings, some of which
included an officer then with the Attorney General's Office Miss Jennifer
Tanyanyiwa. These meetings were held in the then Minister's office, in
Munhumutapa Building."

But in a dramatic intervention on Wednesday,
Professor Moyo weighed in on Hussein's side - exposing Charamba to a
possible perjury charge.

Moyo, now an independent MP for Tsholotsho, said
Charamba had lied to judges.

Moyo said: "At no time during his
brief...did Mr Hussein receive in writing or otherwise from me or from
anyone else in my office any protected or confidential information or
official secret.

"Also, at no time during the same period did Mr Hussein
attend a meeting with Mr George Charamba and Ms Jennifer Tanyanyiwa, who was
then a drafting officer in the office of the Attorney General, over the
drafting of the Broadcasting Services Bill."

He added that it was
only himself and Tanyanyiwa who presented the broadcasting law's draft to
cabinet.

"Mr Hussein did not, therefore, attend the crucial meeting of
the cabinet committee on legislation which refined the draft Broadcasting
Services Bill from the Attorney General's Office for onward transmission to
cabinet and parliament respectively."

Hussein has already written to
Charamba and the Attorney General, threatening to sue for
defamation.

"The allegations in our view are seriously defamatory and we
give you (the Attorney General) and your client (Charamba) due notice that
unless they are fully substantiated, we will institute a damages claim,"
Hussein said in his letter.

Journalists, human rights groups and
potential investors in the electronic media cite Section 38 as one of the
key impediments to the liberalisation of airwaves that was supposed to have
taken place when the Supreme Court nullified ZBC's monopoly in
2000.

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive Obert
Mugunyura last month told a parliamentary committee on transport and
communications that the authority could not license new players in the
broadcasting sector because of restrictions imposed by the
Act.

Hussein is representing Ndabenhle Mabhena and his company, Manala
(Pvt) Ltd, in the Supreme Court case in which the applicant is taking on the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) and Transmedia.

Manala is seeking an order declaring
that Section 38 of the BSA is inconsistent with Section 20 of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe. Section 38 of the BSA states that all frequencies
allocated immediately before the date of the commencement of the BSA would
continue to be operational exclusively to ZBC.

In Zimbabwe, there are
only two VHF (Very High Frequency) television channels and both of them are
held by ZBC. There are also three other available television channels known
as UHF (Ultra High Frequency).

Manala (Pvt) Ltd is arguing that
essentially, what it means is that when one wants to start a television
station they would have to set up UHF transmission systems parallel to the
one held by Transmedia for VHF television.

Manala further argues that
it is not an option to go on UHF due to the funds involved while ZBC is
sitting on two VHF channels and using only one.

The applicants also
contend that ZBC is now a private limited company and there is no
justification for it to tax the public in the form of licence fees. They
argue that collecting licence fees from the public is a ploy to perpetuate
and fund the monopoly ZBC currently enjoys.

In response, the government
argues that the other VHF channel has been reserved for National Television
which the applicants argue has not taken off the ground.

The Ministry
of Information in its response is arguing that the retention of frequencies
was not unconstitutional because they were providing a public
service.

Lawyers, labour union urge Harare to resolve court
strike

Zim Online

by Hendricks Chizhanje Friday 09 November
2007

HARARE - Lawyers bodies have criticised the Zimbabwean
government for paying lip service to judicial officers' demands for better
working conditions, warning the delay to resolve the wage dispute is
compromising the administration of justice in the country.

A work
boycott by magistrates, which started last week, escalated this week with
prosecutors and support staff at the country's courts joining in to press
for better remuneration and working conditions.

The strike action has
effectively crippled the justice delivery system, with several trials being
postponed indefinitely.

Lawyers who had cases set for hearing at the
magistrates' court and the High Court said their cases could not proceed
after the court officials embarked on the work boycott.

Lawyers'
bodies yesterday blasted President Robert Mugabe's government for adopting
its usual Wild West tactics while the country's judicial system crumbled.
They charged that the continued stalemate at the courts was a violation of
human rights.

"A lot of cases have had to be postponed and justice
delayed is justice denied," said Irene Petras, the acting director of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Prominent Harare lawyer Sternford
Moyo said the strike action was negatively impacting on the administration
of justice in the country.

"The strike has a negative effect on the
entire administration of justice. It has a negative effect on the work of
lawyers and has a negative effect on the observance of the rights of the
accused persons and other litigants," said Moyo, who is also president of
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Lawyers
Association.

Law Society of Zimbabwe president Beatrice Mtetwa said the
industrial action could have been avoided had the government addressed the
judicial officers' concerns on time.

"The conditions of service are
absolutely horrendous and yet the magistrates and other support staff play a
very important role," Mtetwa told ZimOnline.

The lawyers' bodies said the
only way of the current impasse was for the government to take a more
serious approach to the issue of remuneration and working conditions for the
judicial officers.

"Their working conditions require immediate attention.
There is need for all concerned to address working conditions. In
particular, there is need to allocate more resources in the next budget to
ensure an effective administration of justice," said Moyo.

Court
clerks and interpreters who downed tools this week are reportedly demanding
a review of their salaries to around $29 million to cushion them against
rising prices of commodities.

"These support staff are basing their
salary demands on what their colleagues in the region are getting," said an
insider.

On Tuesday, the Master of the High Court Charles Nyatanga held
marathon meetings with the clerks and interpreters in an attempt to address
their grievances. But insiders said the meeting yielded nothing.

The
strike comes amid reports that several magistrates have resigned in the past
few months to join private practice.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) yesterday called on the Ministry of Justice to urgently
address the court officials' grievances by coming up with better incentives
to avert a further exodus from the judicial system.

"The ZCTU calls
on the government to put in place a salary review system for all public
service workers and not only pretend to be addressing this matter when a
strike action has occurred," ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe said
in a statement.

Himself a victim of the state's heavy-handed handling of
strikes, Chibebe said the labour federation was disturbed by the
"government's attitude towards not only this strike, but also towards other
strikes that have taken place in the public service".

"Labour
believes these browbeating attitudes and tactics by government yield
nothing," he said.

Earlier this year, Zimbabwe's Judge President Rita
Makarau criticised the government for undermining the judiciary by starving
it of resources and reducing it to "begging for its
sustenance".

Speaking at the opening of the 2007 High Court legal year
last January, Makarau said the judiciary was barely able to function, hit by
corruption and under-funding.

The court that permanently sits in the
capital and in Bulawayo was unable to hold circuit courts in other major
centres because there was no money.

She said court libraries were empty
while judges and magistrates lacked basic stationery and corruption had
taken root among the poorly paid judicial support staff. - ZimOnline

Trial of Zimbabwe journalist fails to take
off

Zim Online

by Nqobizitha Khumalo Friday 09 November
2007

PLUMTREE - The trial of a Zimbabwean editor
who was arrested last March for allegedly practising journalism without
accreditation has failed to take off after a magistrate said the matter had
not been set down for hearing.

Bright Chibvuri, the editor of
The Worker, a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) publication, was
arrested last March while attending a workers' union training seminar in
Plumtree in southern Zimbabwe.

Chibvuri, who is out on bail, is
being charged under the tough Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act which bans journalists from practising their profession without
accreditation from the government's Media and Information Commission
(MIC).

Wilbert Mandinde, one of the lawyers handling the case, said
the matter had been pushed to an unconfirmed date after the magistrate
indicated that the case had not been set down for a hearing.

"The magistrate then decided that the lawyer should liase with the
prosecutor before deciding on the dates for the trial but the case did not
proceed as it was not set down for a hearing," Mandinde said.

Chibvuri, who was accredited last year, was arrested in Plumtree after he
failed to present his 2007 press card. His pleas to the police officer that
he was still waiting for a new press card for this year from the MIC fell on
deaf ears.

The journalist spent two days in police custody before
he was granted bail.

At least a hundred journalists have been
arrested over the past four years for allegedly violating the country's
tough media laws.

President Robert Mugabe's government, which has
banned four newspapers including the country's biggest selling Daily News
over the past four years, is considered among the worst violators of press
freedom in the world.

Apart from banning newspapers, journalists
must first seek permission from the MIC before practicing their profession.
Those who are caught violating the law face a two-year jail
term.

Meanwhile, the state-run National University of Science and
Technology (NUST) has suspended for three years student leader, Mehluli
Dube, for leading violent protests against the government.

Dube, who is facing treason charges after calling for the violent removal of
Mugabe's government, was served with his suspension letter
yesterday.

Themba Maphenduka, a Student Representative Council
committee member, was also slapped with a three-year suspension
term.

NUST information officer, Felix Moyo, said there was nothing
amiss with the suspension as the two had been found guilty by the
university's disciplinary committee. - ZimOnline

Zim artists adopt historic AIDS
declaration

Zim Online

by Tafirei Shumba Friday 09 November
2007

HARARE - Artists ravaged by AIDS and hitherto cocooned
in self-denial of the deadly infection are emerging to tackle the disease in
an official declaration the first of its kind in Zimbabwe by artists and for
artists.

Artists were long accused of incorrigibility and a laissez-faire
attitude towards AIDS while the debilitating disease was killing entire
musical bands.

Now the artists are coming out strong and making
passionate public commitments to bolster initiatives to combat
AIDS.

The artists, the majority of them performers, have put together and
signed a milestone official declaration spelling out comprehensive
responsibilities on how they will tackle AIDS.

While being a
Zimbabwean initiative, artists from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) regional bloc are set to add their names to the declaration
when they meet in Harare at the SADC Artists' Aids Festival (SAAF) penciled
for this month-end to coincide with World AIDS Day on December
1st.

In its declaration entitled the SAAF Bulawayo Artists' Declaration -
named after Zimbabwe's second city where the declaration was born - artists
committed themselves to voluntary testing and having a new start in
life.

In the past Zimbabwe's mixed breed of legislators, regarded
cynically by the public as role models, have taken public HIV tests with the
event becoming a farce after the Members of Parliament failed to disclose
their status they had independently offered to do.

Only one artist, a
model Tendai Westerhoff, formerly married to ex-Zimbabwe national soccer
team coach, Clements Westerhoff, is the known high profile personality in
recent years to have publicly disclosed her HIV positive
status.

Tendai has gone on to write books about her experiences
living with the virus that causes AIDS.

Also in their declaration the
artists wanted to support those affected and infected by AIDS and use their
multi-media art forms as means of awareness.

The artists also committed
themselves to avoiding stigma in art. The general feeling was that artists
"knowingly or unknowingly" produced art forms that stigmatised people
infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

The declaration was drafted and
adopted under the auspices of SAAF that is launching in Zimbabwe after the
realization that Harare's response to HIV and AIDS, at country level, was
making notable progress in the region in recent years. Regional artists
would thus use Zimbabwe as a case study.

Zimbabwe's HIV and AIDS
prevalence rate has declined to 15.6 percent. A new report released a
fortnight ago by the government revealed weekly deaths from the disease had
also dropped by 23 percent with a decline too in the rate of infection among
Zimbabweans from one in five persons with the virus in 2003 to one in seven
persons in 2007.

But the health ministry cautioned against the decline
saying AIDS was still a major menace to the southern African nation reeling
under eight years of unprecedented economic recession.

Said Kunonga: "We are perishing and we want to take it upon
ourselves to foster behavior change among artists and start being realistic.
Its never too late."

But for some of the artists Kunonga's idea is
already too late. AIDS in known to have cleaned out musical bands in
Zimbabwe but nevertheless artists were beginning processes of
self-introspection as they finally came to terms with the disease. -
ZimOnline

Charges Against Zimbabwe Attorney General Tied To Mugabe Succession
Fight

VOA

By Blessing Zulu Washington 08 November
2007

Following his arrest and brief detention earlier this
week, Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele of Zimbabwe faces charges of
corruption over allegations he failed to prosecute a wanted Zimbabwean
banker with whom he recently met in Harare.

But sources informed on
the case told VOA that the abuse-of-office charges brought against
Gula-Ndebele were motivated by ruling party political
intrigue.

Gula-Ndebele is accused of failing to prosecute former NMBZ
Holdings Deputy Managing Director James Mushore, who fled Zimbabwe during a
2004 banking crisis that saw a number of financial institutions closed by
the central bank - although Mushore's own bank was among those which
survived the shakeout.

Mushore was arrested in Harare recently on
allegations that he helped externalize foreign currency while a senior NMBZ
executive.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said in a statement that
Gula-Ndebele was briefly arrested Tuesday and then released after being
charged under the criminal law act for actions "contrary to or inconsistent
with [his] duty as a public officer."

High Court Judge Rita Makarau
meanwhile deferred a bail hearing for Mushore until Friday. Sources close to
the judge said that she pushed off the hearing from Thursday out of fear of
being prosecuted for giving "undue preference" to the matter.

Police
say Mushore, who had sought asylum in the United Kingdom, returned to
Zimbabwe in August and met with Gula-Ndebele, who allegedly assured him that
he would not be prosecuted if he permanently returned to the
country.

Bvudzijena dismissed charges that the matter has more to do with
politics than justice.

Senior government sources said Gula-Ndebele
has been targeted by the ruling party faction loyal to Minister Without
Portfolio Emmerson Mnangagwa because he has lined up with the rival faction
of retired army general Solomon Mujuru. Whether coincidentally or not,
Mujuru happens to be banker Mushore's uncle.

Gula-Ndebele is also at
political daggers drawn with Zimbabwe's powerful minister of justice,
Patrick Chinamasa, considered to be a Mnangagwa ally.

Defenders of
Gula-Ndebele say the attorney general in the past has come under fire from
the government and ruling party for refusing to prosecute opposition
members.

Sources said President Robert Mugabe approved the action against
Gula-Ndebele under intense lobbying by the Mnangagwa faction.

Human
rights lawyer Jacob Mafume, also coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
he was shocked by the arrest of Zimbabwe's attorney
general.

Johannesburg-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere, who faces similar
charges of externalizing foreign currency, said Mushore, with exiled bankers
Julius Makoni and William Nyemba, established NMBZ as the first black-owned
bank in Zimbabwe.

Mawere said the currency externalization charges
can be traced to the appointment of the current governor of the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, who lobbied successfully to make the unauthorized
export of hard currency a criminal offense.

Further Contraction In Zimbabwe Economy As Sub-Saharan Africa
Booms

VOA

By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye Washington 08
November 2007

The continued contraction of the Zimbabwean
economy stands in sharp contrast to the vigorous expansion which its
Sub-Saharan African peers are enjoying, according to the International
Monetary Fund's senior representative to Africa.

Top IMF official
Sean Nolan said in a briefing in Pretoria, South Africa, that the Fund
expects Sub-Saharan growth to exceed 6.5% in 2008. But Zimbabwe is facing a
6.1% contraction this year - the worst slide since its recession began in
2000.

Nolan told reporters that Zimbabwe's poor showing was bound to have
a negative impact on the rest of the region and even the continent as a
whole.

But Harare economist John Robertson told reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that while the country was much
diminished as a supplier and a market, some neighbors benefited from the
emigration of skilled workers.

The faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change headed by Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday that the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should wait until South African-mediated
crisis talks are concluded before it starts delimiting new constituencies
under a recently passed constitutional amendment.

The opposition
formation said the questions as to management of the national voters roll
and the ZEC's own composition remained to be discussed in the negotiations
in Pretoria, so the commission should move ahead on major electoral
items.

Local, parliamentary and presidential elections are slated for
March 2008.

The commission responded that it is merely preparing for the
work of delimiting the 90 new constituencies to be carved out pursuant to
the constitutional amendment, and it contended that the amendment mandates
it to carry out the delimitation process.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of
the Tsvangirai MDC faction told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that the formation is not opposed to the commission, but noted
that its board mainly includes ruling party loyalists.

Strike By Zimbabwean Magistrates Deprives Defendants Of Bail
Process

The Zimbabwean lower court system has ground to a
halt in the second week of a strike magistrates, prosecutors and their
supporting staff, sources said Thursday.

Magistrates walked off the
job on Oct. 30 demanding an increase in their salary to a monthly Z$150
million on average from $20 million.

Sources familiar with court
operations on Rotten Row in Harare said the system was in chaos, with only
one court, staffed by a regional magistrate, was in session.

Staff of
the country's high court were said to have joined the strike.

Law Society
of Zimbabwe President Beatrice Mtetwa told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the real victims of the strike are suspects being
held pending arraignment who have not had the benefit of a bail hearing.

Vigil letter to Commonwealth Secretary-General

9th November
2007

Mr Don McKinnon

Commonwealth
Secretary-General

Commonwealth Secretariat

Marlborough House, Pall
MallLondon SW1Y 5HX

Dear Mr McKinnon

We write
to express our hope that the plight of Zimbabweans will be discussed at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala on 23 - 25
November. We are grateful for your efforts on behalf of Zimbabwe in the
past. The insults directed at you by the Mugabe regime should be seen as
compliments. We are sure the Commonwealth understands that it was not the
people of Zimbabwe who walked out of the Commonwealth in 2003 but only
Mugabe.

We look to our brothers and sisters in the
Commonwealth to help us because we have been failed by the United Nations.
Over the years we have sent it petitions signed by scores of thousands of
people asking for help to stop human rights abuses in Zimbabwe but the UN
seems to have done nothing.

Now the European Union has decided to
ignore its travel ban on Mugabe and instead invited him to the EU / AU
summit in Lisbon in December. They seem to have been blackmailed by the
African threat to boycott the meeting if Mugabe is not allowed to
attend.

We know that the EU is worried about the tidal wave of
immigrants coming from Africa. But we believe that the solution does not
lie in accommodating dictators like Mugabe but by dealing with the problems
of corruption and human rights abuses to improve living conditions at
home.

It is no coincidence that the International Monetary Fund
this week announced that economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected
to increase this year by about 6% - except for Zimbabwe which is expected to
fall by about 6% - clear evidence of bad governance.

For your
information we recently submitted the following petition to the governments
of all EU members. "A PETITION TO EUROPEAN UNION GOVERNMENTS: We record our
dismay at the failure of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
to help the desperate people of Zimbabwe at their time of trial. We urge
the UK government, and the European Union in general, to suspend government
to government aid to all 14 SADC countries until they abide by their joint
commitment to uphold human rights in the region."

The petition
was signed by thousands of people passing by the Vigil, which has been held
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for more than 5 years.
Letters were also written to the governments of all the SADC countries, most
of which will be represented in Kampala.

We must explain that the
aid we are talking about is not humanitarian or food aid but balance of
payments support, which is often misappropriated. We would like all the
money saved to go to help the starving people of Zimbabwe.

The Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current
regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue
until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in
Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

My personal thoughts on Zimbabwe

Hi, I'm English and worked in
Zimbabwe, Harare, for three and a half wonderful years until December
2006.Leaving Zimbabwe, as I had to do for reasons of work, was one of the
hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. It broke my heartIn
fact I have been back to Zimbabwe three times in the past year to see my
friends in Harare. Every time I leave, I am equally sad and wish I could
stay.The last time I was there was at the end of September, I was
staying with a friend in the Avenues area, the jacarandas were in full
bloom,(her garden is shaded by a huge jacaranda tree-beautiful) the weather
was perfect and, despite all the privations, the people were still smiling
and friendly as they had been throughout the period I had lived there.I
was however shocked at the scarcity of goods, I had previously been there in
July and it had been easier to find things then. My friend who was working
used to ask me to bring her something to her workplace for lunch, what a
task that was. It was unbelievable the search that had to be made to find a
small roll and the price that had to be paid for a can of an imported fizzy
drink.As I was on holiday and had the use of a car I was able to "do the
shopping", an adventure sometimes rewarded by being in the right place at
the right time; being in Borrowdale TM when a delivery of frozen chickens
arrived, finding pork chops in Honeydew, acquiring flour with which to bake
bread all these things earning me major brownie points on my return
home.I read the "zimbabweansituation" on a daily basis, and keep in touch
with events in Zimbabwe through friends there and the media.I know
things are tough there, but you must all keep believing.You live in one of
the best countries in the world, you have a wonderful climate, fabulous
scenery and tourist attractions, many natural resources and the people of
Zimbabwe, both black and white are some of the nicest, kindest and most
resourceful I have met anywhere in the world.Your country has so much going
for it that ultimately it cannot fail; it must succeed.I know that you
must think that it is easy for me to say this, looking in from the outside
and not having to struggle on a daily basis to "survive" and that is true
but, as an outsider looking in, I can see all the great things about your
country, all the things that made it the premier country in Southern Africa
and these cannot be taken away, ever, by a person who wants to ruin you and
your great nation. They are there in perpetuity for you all and try as he
may your "leader" cannot take these things away from you. They are God-given
and not his to take. try as he may.They will be there as will the people of
Zimbabwe, long after this president is gone.All I can say is "dig in", "hang
on" don't let Mr. M. beat you. In the end you and Zimbabwe will come good,
will win the day.I'll be back soon, so please excuse these ramblings, I just
want you to know that my heart and my thoughts are with all of you who are
struggling and suffering in a country which should be a paradise on
earth.Love and Best Wishes to you all.Ken